"You can't get any closer to his works with theory. Only one thing is necessary: the heart must be open. Listen to Schönberg's music uninhibitedly, without prejudice of any kind. Leave theory and philosophy aside. There is only music in Schönberg's works." (Anton Webern, 1912)
No emotion is more closely associated with music than love. No composer is more often associated with rational, non-emotional soundscapes than Schönberg. The triggering and transformative power of his work is of initial importance for the development of musical art in the 20th century. His extreme uncompromisingness, militant innovation and absolute belief in progress, as well as the high demands that his works place on the listener, gave him the burden of a constructor. As far removed as his music may be from the usual conventions of the music industry, it is deeply rooted in the exploration of human sound. It touches all layers of the soul.
For the first time, the Arnold Schönberg Center will take a curatorial approach to Schönberg's scores, which are imbued with great emotion, exploring contexts and opening up points of reference for a new-sounding language of love in musical modernism around 1900. Love songs, symphonic poems and programmatic ensemble pieces stand alongside private messages, literary and artistic testimonies to the loss of love and the fulfillment of longed-for affection.
What does love sound like in the composer's imagination? By means of digitally animated scores, which allow a synchronous image-sound reconstruction, archival documents are brought to life in the exhibition. This reveals the written image as a visualization of sound ideas.
May 29, 2024 to February 14, 2025
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